Hanging file with index tab



June 19, 1962 Filed Oct. 22, 1957 J. PODN ER 3,039,470

HANGING FILE WITH INDEX TAB 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M/VEA/TO? T055? R PODNE R WIALW June 19, 1962 .1. PODNER HANGING FILE WITH INDEX TAB 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 22, 1957 l'nvfl l l INVENTOR 5 aw N m u 0 w w f P.

c L AW United States Patent Filed Oct. 22, 1957, Ser. No. 691,776 4 Claims. (Cl. 129-163) This invention relates to a new and novel type of hanging file with an index tab. More particularly this invention relates to a hanging file provided with a detachable index tab of clip formation which may be attached to the top of said file along any portion of its upper edge thereof.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide for a hanging file a new and novel detachable tab of clip formation, said tab being slidable along the upper edge of said file. Another object of this invention is to provide a tab which may be easily attached to the upper edge of a hanging file and may be slid into proper position, but once in position it cannot be readily knocked out of said position by accidental blows against said tab.

A further object of this invention is to provide a file which has means along the top edges for holding an index tab in position once an index tab has been positioned on said file. The means for accomplishing the aforementioned result is indentations along the upper edges of the file, whereas in the prior art glueing or bonderizing processes are normally used to hold the tabs in place so they will not slip. Still another object of this invention is to provide an index tab which is inexpensive to produce, durable, and functional in that it may be positioned along various portions of the top edge of a file and once positioned will not readily slide out of place until it is repositioned.

Other and further objects are those inherent in the invention herein illustrated, described in the claims, and

will be apparent as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends this invention then comprises the features herein fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

The invention is illustrated by reference to the drawings in which the corresponding numerals refer to the same parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective broken front view of a hanging file with the index tab mounted thereon;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged back view of a portion of the hanging file showing the index tab mounted thereon;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged end view of the tab mounted on a hanging file, the file being shown in section and taken along section lines 33 in the direction of the arrows of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged end view of the metallic portion of the tab illustrating the spring feature of the metallic clip which holds the tab in place when mounted;

FIGURE 5 is a top cross-sectional view of the tab and the hanging file taken along lines 55 in the direction of the arrows of FIGURE 1 to illustrate the indented feature of the top edge of the folder and also the relative location of the various elements that go to make up said tab and said folder.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIGURES l and 3, there is shown a perspective view and an end View of the hanger file with an index tab thereon. The file is generally designated as 10. The hanger file 11 is formed by folding a piece of heavy paper in the midsection to form a folder composed of two leaves 12 and 13. The upper portion of each leaf 12, 13 of the folder ice is then folded over a metal hanging rail 14 and the lower parts 16 of said folded portions are then secured to the sheet of the folder by conventional means such as glueing. This gives a thickened portion 17 at the upper edge of the leaf of the folder, the thickened portion consisting of two layers of paper and the metal 'bar 14. The thickened portion presents a surface on which the index tab 18 can be mounted. Each metal hanging rail 14 has a hook 32 at each end.

For the file there is provided a substantially rectangular index tab 18 made up of a metallic body portion of rider 19, a transparent plastic sheath 20, and an index slip 21. The index slip 21 is shown in FIGURE 5. In FIGURE 3 the index slip is not shown but when it is inserted, it slides in between front plate 22 and the plastic sheath 20 at the interface 21A of FIGURE 3. The rider 19 is preferably made from a single blank of metal such as spring steel or the like. The blank is bent to form a front plate 22 and a clip 3t), said clip having two legs 24 and 25. The front plate has an upper portion 22A and a lower portion 22B, the lower portion being bent such that it forms a slight angle to the upper portion. The blank at the lower edge of the lower portion 223 is bent back upon itself to form a clip leg 24, the length of the clip leg 24 being approximately equal to the length of the lower portion 223. The portion of the blank extending above the upper edge of the clip leg 24 is then bent in a downwardly direction to form spaced extended cli-p leg 25. A shoulder 25 is formed in the extended clip leg 25 at approximately half way between the upper and lower edges of said leg by first bending the leg toward the front plate and then at a line spaced from said bend downwardly so that the extended clip leg portion 27 lies in a plane nearly parallel to the plane of the upper part of the leg. The aforementioned shoulder comes in contact with the lower edge of clip leg 24 when the index tab is not mounted on a file as shown in FIGURE 4.

The upper bowed portion 31 formed at the junction of the two clip legs 24, 25 is of a width that is approximately equal to the thickened portion 17 at the upper edge of a leaf of the folder. The distance from the bowed portion 31 to the shoulder portion 26 is slightly greater than the height of the thickened portion 17, the two aforementioned dimensions being such that the clip directly fits over the thickened portion of the leaf but due to the resilient feature of the clip it holds the index tab in place on the folder. The corners 33 of the extended leg portions are mitered to facilitate the mounting of the index tab on the hanging file.

The transparent plastic sheath 20 which may be made of celluloid or similar material, is of rectangular shape having similar but slightly greater dimensions than the face of the rider. The sheath at the upper edge has integral therewith an extension 20A which is folded back on the sheath and extends in a downwardly direction so that when the sheath is mounted over the rider the lower edge of said extension will be below the upper edge of the bowed portion 31. The sheath also has a second extension 26B integral with the bottom edge of the sheath and folded in an upwards direction, the two extensions forming with the main body of the sheath, means for holding said sheath in place on the rider.

An index slip 21 which has substantially the same dimensions as the front plate 22 of the rider is inserted at interface 21A, FIGURE 3, between the sheath and the face on the front plate. The index slip which is shown in place in FIGURE 5, is used to exhibit the name or other desired information thereon to indicate the material contained in the hanger file. Notches 28 are provided in the side edges of the upper body portion of the rider so that when said slip has been inserted the thumb nail can be placed between the sheath and the index slip to grip said index slip to remove it.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 5 the upper edge portions of the folder may be formed with indented portions 34 spaced lengthwise along said edge portion to form stops 29, the spacing of the stops being slightly greater than the length of the index tab. The stops 29 are bent outwardly from the plane of the thickened upper edge portion of the folder far enough so that the rider will not be dislodged when accidentally bumped or when the hanger file is moved from one position to another; at the same time the stops are not offset far enough from the plane of the thickened upper edge so that they will prevent the index tab from being pushed over them when it is desired to move said tab to another spacing along the upper edge of the folder. As shown in FIGURE 3 the stops 29 protrude outwardly from the surface of the folder and form an indented portion 34 in the inside surface of the thickened portion of the folder. As indicated in FIGURE 1 the thickened portion of the forward leaf 12 is provided with spaced stops so that the index tabs may be spaced in any one of five positions, whereas the thickened portion of the back leaf 13 is provided with stops spaced such that the index tab may be spaced in any one of three different positions. This way the same index folder may be readily used with index tabs of two different lengths, an index tab of a smaller length being placed on the front leaf. The length of the index tab used would be dependent upon the amount of information that is desired to be carried on said tab and the other needs of the user.

The extended portion 27 of clip leg 25 extends below the bottom edge of the bar 14 when the index tab is mounted on the file but bears against the lower portion 16 of said thickened portion which is of a double thickness of paper. This double thickness gives additional strength to the file at the point Where the file is most likely to wear due to the clip action of said leg.

It is to be understood that the index tab as herein described may be used with other types of files and is not to be limited in use only with hanging files.

As many widely apparent different embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the specific embodiments herein.

What I claim is:

1. A rider for detachable mounting on the upper edge of a leaf of a file folder for retaining file data indicating means in a visible position comprising a sheet of resilient material providing a front plate having an exposed front surface and a lower edge and an upper terminal edge, means detachably secured thereto for retaining file indexing data on the front surface of said front plate, a first clip leg having one end joined to the front plate lower edge to extend in the same general direction as the front plate, said first leg being of a shorter length than the front plate, a bowed portion of a given width and having two parallel edges transverse to said width dimension, the bowed portion being integrally joined at one edge to the opposite edge of said first leg, and a second clip leg having one edge integrally joined to the other edge of said bowed portion and extending convergingly inwardly from said bowed portion towards the junction of the first leg with the front plate, said bowed portion resiliently urging said one end of the first leg and the opposite edge of the second leg toward one another sothat said legs clampingly engage the leaf there between when positioned on said leaf.

2. The device specified in claim 1 further characterized in that it is composed of a single sheet of material and that the front plate is integrally joined to the first clip leg by being reversely bent at the lower edge.

3. The device specified in claim 1 further characterized in that the means detachably secured to the front plate for retaining indexing data on the front surface of the front plate comprises a plastic sheet overlying said front surface of the front plate, said plastic sheet being bent around the lower edge and upper terminal edge of the front plate for attachment thereto.

4. The device specified in claim 1 further characterized in that said second leg is extended to a terminal edge which is below the lower edge of the front plate said second leg being cut off diagonally at its lower corners along lines intersecting the position of said lower edge of the front plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,218,558 Hub Mar. 6, 1917 1,357,561 Hix Nov. 2, 1920 1,958,934 Williams May 15, 1934 2,679,846 Addison June 1, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 223,969 Switzerland Jan. 18, 1943 235,782 Switzerland Apr. 16, 1945 591,613 Great Britain Aug. 22, 1947 631,358 Great Britain Nov. 1, 1949 702,274 Great Britain Jan. 13, 1954 708,826 Great Britain May 12, 1954 61,170 France Oct. 13, 1954 7 (Addition to 1,009,580)

726,763 Great Britain Mar. 23, 1955 1,141,096 France Mar. 11, 1957 

